Halting the insanity, for now

The Arizonans have left, the School Power moms are back to strong-arming decent folks in the street, and there's a fresh controversy involving downtown parking that has divided the City Council, if not the city itself.

Ah, to be in Laguna Beach in the fall. This city and I fall in love again every year at this time.

But my plan to revel in the dysfunction this weekend was abruptly and crudely curtailed. The 21st edition of “Lagunatics” – that magical bit of musical theater in which some of the city's most talented troubadours mock the city's shortcomings, celebrate its quirks and explore its curiosities – was laid low last week by a fungus.

A worker at the offices of the Festival of the Arts' Forum Theater smelled something funny when he came into work one day. He knocked a hole in the wall and found mold. After much discussion among the festival staff, “Lagunatics” director
Bree Burgess Rosen and City Hall, Rosen decided to pull the plug on the 2013 edition.

“A funny thing happened on the way to the Forum …” she began a press release that went out Friday, 24 hours before “Lagunatics” was set to open for a three-weekend run. Upon receipt, I immediately invited myself to her house for a glass of wine. I didn't take notes, but I remember her saying, “It sucks” a few times. Or maybe that was me.

The show has been rescheduled for the last two weekends of January, assuming the mold can be eradicated by then.

The smell was confined to the theater offices and wasn't present in the 200-plus-seat theater itself, which is located above the offices. Still, Rosen said, it wasn't worth the health risk.

I called Festival of Arts president
Frank Sattler on Sunday evening to get the latest on the mold situation.

The lab hired by the festival has determined that “the air is fine,” Sattler said. What takes longer to test, he said, is “exactly what (the mold) is or its toxicity,” and the extent of the remediation required. He believes the source of the moisture that caused the mold is an air-conditioning unit that had faulty drainage for its condensation discharge.

“We're not happy,” Sattler said. “We feel terrible. But until we know what we're dealing with, I think ‘Lagunatics' did the right thing.”

Most of the “Lagunatics” advertising budget has been spent, the sets had been built, the lighting and sound systems installed. Some cast members won't be able to do the January shows because of other commitments, but Rosen is going to have a few rehearsals between now and then so the remaining cast members don't forget everything they've learned.

She and co-writer
Chris Quilter will also have to write a new number. Something about mold.